Post navigation

Baked Cheesecake with Spongecake Base- exclusively for the Lazy Chefs!

No matter how hard I try to be creative, or how much time I put in to racking my brains for ideas, I just won’t be able to do justice to a Cheesecake. I can start off with a Yummm…Cheesecake- and then just get on with my life. Or I can go “Burp..ah, the sweet memories”, as my better half suggested. But after being all over the place, trying to work out a good enough start for my close to the heart Cheesecake recipe, I realized that I’m just being one of those fussy brides who cries over the wrong table cloth, whilst blessed with the most adorable groom in the world. I may be pushing it a tad too much with the melodramatic comparison, but you see, that’s how much I love this cheesecake recipe.

Baked Cheesecake with Spongecake Base!

After a pilgrimage across a good portion of Dubai to find out the best Cheesecake served, I landed at the Brooklyn Diner. Ever since then, baking a cheesecake as good as theirs, or at least remotely close to theirs became the sole quest behind my kitchen time and the sole reason behind my oven’s existence. Needless to say, after force-feeding my family with some burnt, some unbearably sweet and some obnoxiously tasteless cheesecake slices, I have reached the pinnacle. The point where my cheesecake gets mistaken for one bought from a bake-shop, where my cake tempts the non-sweet eater and where my husband goes to the extent of saying he may even love me a little more for the good work. So, in this season of joy, let me share with you what one day I stumbled across at Food.Com, a recipe that’s transformed me into a MasterBaker at my husband’s office. The Lazy Chef’s all-time-favorite: BAKED CHEESECAKE with Sponge bottom.

Heaven- bite- sized!

Things you need:

Small packet of Americana vanilla sponge cake. Or anything similar.

4* 8 ounce Philadelphia CreamCheese (that’s approx 900g).

1 2/3 Cups Sugar.

1/4 Cup Cornstarch/ Cornflour.

1 Tbsp Vanilla Essence.

2 Eggs.

3/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream.

9 inch Springform pan or push up pan.

Large roasting tin or shallow pan (for the water bath)

Aluminium foilpaper.

Boiling hot water.

While you can see a much shorter version of the original recipe here http://www.food.com, my long, winding, detailed version goes hence:

Step 1:

Preheat your oven to 175 degree Celsius (350 degree Fahrenheit). Cut out thin slices of the readymade sponge cake, line the bottom of the springform pan with it and press down well with your fingers. What you have just made is the base of your cheesecake. Keep this aside. #CheatingInStyle

The cheat’s guide to a spongecake base!

Step 2:

In a bowl, place one 8-ounce package of Philadelphia creamcheese, 1/3 cup of sugar and the whole quantity of cornflour. Beat this together with an electric mixer on low, until creamy. Once you have this well mixed, add the remaining cream cheese packages, the remaining 1 1/3 cups of sugar and the vanilla essence- beat this up on high.

Creamcheese+sugar+cornflour.

And more creamcheese! What’s a cheesecake without CHEESE, anyway?!

Step 3:

Blend in the eggs, one at a time, beating the batter well after each one. After this, pour in the heavy cream and lightly mix it just until it is completely blended.

Splash in the eggs and vanilla..

Pour in the cream..aah yes..make it RICHER!

Step 4:

Spoon the cheese filling on top of the sponge cake base in the springform pan. Cover the sides of the pan with aluminium foil paper. Place this inside a roasting tin or shallow pan, fill it up to just 1 inch with boiling water, and place this inside the oven to bake for about 1 hour, until the center of the cake barely jiggles when you shake the pan.

The filling goes on top of the spongecake base..

Safe & sound in the water bath, all set inside the oven!

Step 5:

Take it outside and let it cool. Cover it in a plastic wrap and keep it overnight, or at least 3-4 hours inside the fridge. Remove it from the springform or push up pan, place it on a cake stand and just gaze at it for a few minutes. Once you are ready to share it with your friends and family, open the kitchen doors and let the torrent of appreciation, spoon battles and burps come in!

When you know you have plated up the best of sins!

That one slice was just the start…but then isn’t it always?!

Step 6:

Google for calorie burning exercises while licking the cake stand clean off any cheesecake remains!